How fast do spring crops grow?

I am in SE Nebraska, zone 5b. This is my first time growing spring crops and I'm getting a little discouraged by how slow everything is growing. I'm asking if what I'm experiencing is normal or if I'm doing something wrong.


I have sown:
Daikon radish - March 8th
Kale - March 24th
Mesclun lettuce - ''
Sugar snap pea - ''


A few (20%) of my radishes have two true leaves, the rest are sprouts yet.
The lettuce is about an inch tall and just starting to form true leaves; the kale is a little behind.
The peas look okay. Anywhere from 2-4 inches tall.

Average high temp this month is 67, with a really warm spell between the 2nd and the 6th. Soil temp is low 50s, currently.

That's not crazy slow.

There are a lot of factors so it's hard to know what you should be expecting. I'm also in a very different growing climate, 9b.

What kind of soil do you have? Has there been much rain? Full sun? Partial shade?

Take some pictures of the garden!

Hi Joe, glad to see you joined us.  My plants seem to be right on par with yours.  Our onions and potatoes are slower this year.  I think the ground just isn't quite warm enough yet.  The garlic is loving it.  

Same here in Chicago.  Things sprouted during a warm spell, and then it cooled off and the sprouts are just "chilling" and not growing much.

Lew Johnson wrote:That's not crazy slow.

There are a lot of factors so it's hard to know what you should be expecting. I'm also in a very different growing climate, 9b.

What kind of soil do you have? Has there been much rain? Full sun? Partial shade?

Take some pictures of the garden!

Full sun. I'd say average rain. Native soil is heavy clay but I've been improving by adding leaves for four years. The radish bed is freshly turned sod so is 100% native soil.

Pictures are from April 17.

All your plants look very healthy.  The cool weather is keeping top growth slow for now but you are getting a lot of root growth.
Soon they will take off.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I appreciate the encouragement!  

Our plants look snowy today!  We have about a half inch of snow.  The trees look weird with the snow clinging to the leaves. They are real droopy.  

Edit: when the sun came up it was 2" of snow.  Going to be a hard slow start to growing season.

April 28, 11 warm days later, things are looking pretty good.

Good Joe, your kale and lettuce are way further than mine.  My peas look just about like yours.  Thank you for the update.